Conventional electric pressing irons have been used for many years to press articles of clothing and various textiles. Such irons include a soleplate having a heating element connected to a source of electrical power which heats the soleplate to a sufficient temperature to press the articles of clothing.
A number of problems exist with conventional electric pressing irons, however, in that the iron is prone to scorch clothing, cause fires, or cause burns to a person who inadvertently contacts the heated soleplate of the iron. For example, when the attention of a user of the iron is directed away from the iron, the heated soleplate may be left in a horizontal position and in direct contact with an article of clothing. As such, the article of clothing may be scorched by the iron, or, more seriously, the heated soleplate may cause the article of clothing to ignite into flames, potentially creating a fire in the household. Moreover, when an iron is left unattended in a vertical position, a person, commonly a child, may contact the heated soleplate of the iron, typically causing severe burns to the person. Thus, a need has existed to provide an automatic power interrupting device which disconnects the heating element from the source of electrical power upon the detection of non-use of the iron. One attempt to address the above-noted problem has been to provide motion sensitive switches which disconnect the heating element from the source of electrical power when no movement of the iron is detected. A disadvantage exists, however, in that vibrations caused by sources other than a user of the iron, such as nearby machinery or human activity, may cause motion sensitive switches to detect movement, thus resulting in an unattended iron being heated.
Another attempt to address the above-noted problem has been to provide touch sensitive switches which disconnect the heating element from the source of electrical power when no direct contact is detected between the hand of a user and a conductive sensor on the handle of the iron. A disadvantage exists, however, in that if there is not sufficient isolation between the conductive sensor and the source of electrical power, there is a potential for a dangerous shock to the user who is in direct electrical contact with the conductive sensor.
Another attempt to address the above-noted problem has been to provide user proximity switches which employ a proximity sensor located within the handle of the iron to detect AC power line frequencies picked up by the body of a user and capacitively coupled from the hand of the user to the proximity sensor. Such switches disconnect the heating element from the source of electrical power when no AC power line frequencies are detected. A disadvantage exists, however, in that objects other than the hand of a user placed near the handle of the iron may pick up AC power line frequencies and couple them to the proximity sensor, thus resulting in an unattended iron being heated. In addition to the above-noted disadvantages, a further problem exists in that the automatic power interrupting devices of such electric pressing irons do not automatically reconnect the heating element to the source of electrical power upon the detection of use of the iron. As such, the user must manually reconnect the heating element to the source of electrical power after a period of non-use of the iron, such as by turning the iron off and back on again, or by depressing a manual reset switch.